Flaming Prefix
by Mitsuki-Clam
Summary: Ciel's past was only lightly hinted upon in the Kuroshitsuji anime and manga. However, in this story, his tragic past is told in detail, from playing simple chess games with his parents to being kidnapped to turning into the Ciel Phantomhive we all know and love today. Starts fluffy but will get VERY SAD. SORRY I KEEP CHANGING THE TITLE! I finally found the perfect one. Gawd.
1. 1: Chess-Playing Prefix

"Mother, Mother!" A small boy called. "Daddy taught me how to play chess!"  
A tall woman with orange-brown hair opened her arms, and the boy ran into them. The woman ruffled his blue hair affectionately, and when he looked up and smiled at her, she laughed and fixed his hair, combing her fingers through it. "Well, Ciel," she said, "how about you show me how to play?"  
"Okay!" Ciel answered happily, and retreived the chess board and peices from a little chest against the wall. He set it on the table in the center of the room and, with a little struggle, pulled himself up onto one of the big red armchairs, crossing his legs underneath him. He began to set up the peices, giving himself the black peices and his mother the white.  
"Now tell me, Ciel," his mother began, humoring him. "How do you play this game you call chess?" She did, of course, know how to play, but Ciel seemed so happy and excited to have learned something new.  
"Well, the little pawns move one space, the knights move in the shape of an 'L', and the queen..." He paused and pondered the complicated menouvers. He finally looked up with a hint of angruish at his mother and said defeatedly, "Why, I can't remember how to play!"  
"Why don't we get your father in the room?" his mother, Rachel, suggested. "You two can be on a team and verse me."  
"Okay!" Ciel said happily, his blue eyes twinkling, and ran off on small legs to his father's office up the stairs. Opening the door, he called happily, "Father, let's play chess!"  
Vincent Phantomhive looked up from his papers. As he tapped them on the regal tabletop, the blue ring on his left hand sparkled. "Hmm... I suppose I have time for one game," he said, adding happily, "and we need to put your new chess skills to the test." He put the papers down, picking Ciel up and spinning him in a half-circle like an airplane, causing Ciel to laugh and his father to stumble and smile. "Let's go, shall we?"  
They walked together back downstairs, Ciel leading like he knew the house better than it's head. Once they reached the game of chess once more, his father sat in an armchair on Ciel's side of the board and Ciel sat next to him.  
"Ah, Vincent," Rachel said. "I see you've come down to play a game of chess. We'll see how often you come down again after I beat you!" She retorted playfully.  
"_We're_ going to beat _you_, mother!" Ciel said in the same tone. He looked up at his father. "Right, father?"  
"Absolutely right," Vincent said. "Now, Ciel, what do you do first?"  
"Move the pawn!" Ciel said, leaning forward to tap it's round black head with his index finger and lightly pushing it forward a space, from white square to black. He looked up hopefully at his father. "Right?"  
"Right!" his father answered, lightly patting his shoulder. "How about you make the next move? You're much better than me at this game."  
Vincent was, of course, the best at chess in the manor. He'd been playing since he was Ciel's age, and that is quite a long time, considering he'd soon simply be ash buried in boken glass, floorboards, and a single ring with a blue gemstone at the head.  
So the simple, care-free game of chess continued on, with everyone in the household completely unaware of the upcoming predicament which would involve two horrible deaths, a raging fire, and an emotionless child who would soon encounter a predicament himself.

Rachel moved a white pawn, but the game of life had already begun.

**-**  
**nnnnnnnnnNNNNNNNGAWD~!**  
**I finally thought up a good plot.**  
**NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN-**  
**...No.**  
**A ton of you jerks are probably thinking, "Gawd, what is that?"**  
**You'll just have to wait and see, won't you? 'Cause maybe you're just a little baby and maybe you can't handle this sort of story yet. YOU BETTER BUY SOME TISSUES, SIR, AND MAKE SURE THEY'RE ON SALE, 'CAUSE YOU'RE GONNA NEED A LOT.**  
**Many chapters to come. They'll be much longer than this in the future. Hang on to your butts.**  
**~Mitsuki**


	2. 2: Dollhouse Prefix

Some people can be thought of as dolls in a child's dollhouse. Not a child as in a nine-year-old, but a toddler, really. A toddler's dolls are thrown about, chewed on, and not particularly taken care of. As Ciel would soon figure out, he would become much like a toddler's toy, thrown about and tortured.  
Lizzie, however, was not a toddler. Being Ciel's cousin and fiance, she was around his age, and took very good care of her expensive porcelain dolls, brushing their hair and changing their frilly pink dresses if they got "stained" with "tea", which was, of course, actually just water.  
If these particular dolls could talk, they would probably say, "I love to be pampered and loved by Elizabeth." And if a _toddler's_ dolls could talk, they would probably say, "I hate being a doll and wish I could just kick this person in the face." But enough with trying to lighten up the story. In one or two chapters, it will be impossible to brighten it up, won't it? It would be utterly useless to even try, and if I try to, you will probably think, "Mitsuki, why do you have to make fun of a sad story?" When in actuality, I am simply trying to spare you the pain.  
Ciel walked into Elizabeth's manor and looked around. "Lizzie?" he called. "Auntie Red?"  
"Don't yell so loud in a big house, honey!" his mother said affectionately, giving him a little tickle.  
"Elizabeth is in her playroom," came a happy voice.  
Ciel looked up the flight of stairs and saw Auntie Red stepping down them, smiling at Ciel, clothed in bright red and keeping her eyes off Vincent with all her strength.  
"Auntie Red!" Ciel said again, and ran towards her. She hugged him and ruffled his hair. She couldn't get enough of him. She just loved him so much. He was the daughter of her sister and the man she had loved, and he had his father's eyes.  
"Why don't you go play with Elizabeth in the playroom?" she asked him again. "She's taken out her dollhouse and building logs."  
"We'll come back later to get you, Ciel," his parents said. "Have fun with Elizabeth."  
"Goodbye!" Ciel said, barely looking back as he ran up the stairs to the playroom.  
When he opened the door to the playroom, with it's white walls with pale purple elephants carved into the trim, he was greeted by Elizabeth, waving the arm of a doll with brown hair and a yellow dress. "Hello, Ciel!" She said in a high-pitched voice, moving it's stiff arm up and down. "Care for a cup of tea?" Elizabeth had place too-large chairs around a too-small table, with too-small dolls seated on the chairs with their arms reaching towards too-big teacups. The whole scene was disproportionate in a cute and childish sort of way.  
"Hi, Lizzie!" Ciel said happily. When he got a look at the tea party, however, he whined, "I don't wanna play dolls!" he added happily, "I'm going to build a manor with the blocks!"  
"Can the manor be for the dollies?" Elizabeth asked.  
"Okay!" Ciel answered, and began to build a too-small house for the too-small dolls. Elizabeth held an empty tea cup to a medium-sized doll's porcelain lips, tipping it slightly up to mimic the process of elegantly drinking tea in small sips. "Angelina likes Earl Grey tea the best," she said. She offered a tea cup with actual Earl Grey tea in it to Ciel, as she did every day when he came to visit his future fiance, and he took a greedy gulp before setting it on the tiny table and continuing to build the house.  
Just as Elizabeth was about to try to put a too-big doll into the too-small house, a knock came on the door.  
There was something disturbing and forlorn about the knock that made the children jump, making Lizzie drop her tea cup on the floor with a loud, disturbing shatter as the glass scattered across the once cheerful room . It is the same kind of jump you or I would do if we heard a loud noise in a dark, silent basement. The knock seemed to rupture through the air, bringing terrible fortune. The children laid down their toys.  
The door was hesitantly creaked open to reveal Auntie Red, who's face matched her dress and who's cheeks had wet streaks after a failed attempt to not cry in front of the children.  
"Ciel... Elizabeth..." she paused to pull out a red handkerchief and dab at her eyes. Her voice cracked with a strangled effort to remain calm as she said finally, "Please come with me outside."  
Ciel and Elizabeth, confused and scared with pits in their stomachs, followed her, stepping right onto the broken glass and getting bits stuck in the bottoms of their shoes.  
If Lizzie's dolls could talk now, and they knew what would happen in the future, they would probably be saying, "It would have been best to stay in the playroom and spare yourselves the tears."

...

**GAWD! WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?!**

**WHO CAN SAY?!**

**Gawd, that was dramatic. THE TABLE. IT WAS SMALL. GAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWD.**

**Bwa ha ha. That was the LAST fluffy chapter you'll see from ME. Now you better go ask your not-burned-alive parents to go buy you some not-burned-alive tissues. BECAUSE I AM GOING TO MAKE THIS NEXT CHAPTER MAKE YOU "pull out a red handkerchief and dab at her eyes".**


	3. 3: Burning Prefix

**ooc: Listen as you read and buy more tissues... (youtube)**  
**/watch?v=SMLrGCfFOgk**

...

It is strange how in most movies and stories, whenever someone dies or something bad is happening, it has to be dark outside. It is usually mercilessly raining on the characters, adding to the sadness with the dark clouds in the sky and the thick air. And all the people's black dresses and umbrellas get soaked with the little droplets, almost like the sky is crying along with them- almost like it had been holding the droplets up in the sky for years and decided to cry them out of the clouds in respect for the bad things happening below.  
This story, however, is no such story. On this particular day, everyone involved in the tragic incident was wearing bright colors. The sun was shining and birds where chirping. The only sign that anything bad had happened that Ciel and Lizzie could see with their innocent eyes was a heavy flow of smoke climbing upward as if trying to smother out the sun and the steady flow of people moving away from the smoke's general direction.  
Auntie Red's left hand curled around Ciel's right, Ciel's left curled around Lizzie's right, and with her spare hand she anxiously fingered the lace of her dress. They silently stepped into a carriage and paid the cabbie extra to clang a bell to get the crowd moving out of the way as they drove in the opposite direction of the flow of people.  
Auntie Red asked for the carriage to be stopped some time before smoke could be seen dancing through the clouds thickest. She helped the children out of the carriage and slowly flattened the skirt of Lizzie's dress, as if she didn't want to show the children what they would see in just a few moments and was trying to keep their innocence for as much time as she could spare. She turned to Ciel and looked sadly into his eyes for a few moments before turning away and pretending to look around as tears silently exploded from her eyes. As her back shuddered from the sobbing, she lifted her arms to cover her eyes and face, to shield them from the public. The children knew she was crying behind that mask, and they became even more scared. Ciel held back his tears for Lizzie, who he knew was very weak and easily cried, and silently put his hand on the side of her head and pulled her head towards his so their cheeks were touching, as a married couple might to. He could feel little drops roll from Lizzie's eyes onto his own cheeks and wiped them off with his thumb as she closed her eyes and shielded the world our from her reach, trying to pay attention only to Ciel's breathing and his comforting hand stroking her hair. He took deep breaths and tried to calm down, but he felt like he was going to throw up.  
Auntie Red finally regained herself and, after sniffling a little and dabbing at her eyes, turned back to the children. "I want you to know," she said softly, with a sad smile, "That I will always love you, Ciel..."  
"I know," Ciel said, nodding slightly. It was more for Auntie Red's comfort than his own. And although he had no idea what was so serious, the scene around him was blurred and dizzying, and when Auntie Red put her arms around them and began to slowly lead them to the source of the smoke, he allowed her to put her hand on top if his head for her own comfort. He felt her hands shake and ball up into fists.  
The walk only took about ten seconds, but it felt like a life time, and when they turned the corner to where the Phantomhive manor was... it was more of where it _had_ been.  
As far as the eye could see was black. Black in the sky, the floor, and the faces of those who dared stay at the scene. The walkway leading to the main entrance was strangely pure white, as if teasing the black rubble behind it. Lizzie burst into tears and fell into Ciel's arms, who didn't blink and simply held her close, feeling the shoulder of his jacket get wet from her tears. He was standing there stiff and expressionless, with only a single tear he wanted no one to know about running down his cheek. After a few moments, he began to remember.  
He remembered climbing the trees with Lizzie and showing her how to not tear her dress.  
He remembered having picnics in the front garden, poking at any intruding ants with sticks and naming the shapes in the clouds with Lizzie.  
He remembered running along the pure white pathway into the manor with his father kneeling down at it's entrance, and his mother calling for him, both wearing smiles.  
_Wait... my mother and father...  
_Without pushing the shaking Elizabeth away, he turned his head to Auntie Red, who was once again trying to hide her face under red gloves, and asked in a soft, croaky voice, "Where are my parents?"  
Somehow, deep in his gut, he'd known all along.  
"Th-they're dead, Ciel..." Auntie Red said, taking her hands off her face to reveal puffy eyes and cheeks soaked in tears. Her back lurched slightly a few times as she sobbed silently, shaking her head hopelessly, right in front of him. She couldn't hold it in anymore. A strangled sob fell out of her mouth and she pulled them both close, pressing their faces into her jacket as if trying to shield the world from their eyes.  
"Madame Red..." Ciel said softly and calmly, "...Please let go."  
"M-...Madame Red?" Madame Red asked softly, as if she didn't know who he was talking about. He'd always called her Auntie Red, ever since he could talk. She slowly released her hold on them as if in a daze, and Ciel pulled back, not holding Lizzie anymore. She looked at him as if she was a little scared, breathing shaky breaths from crying for so long. Ciel looked down at the shoulder of his coat that was wet with her tears and blinked.  
"Ciel...?" Lizzie asked softly, taking a step towards him and reaching out a hand. "Are you alright?  
Ciel looked up at her. "Elizabeth... please don't," he murmured. His eyes were drawn behind her to the rubble again. _I... I think I may faint... _He put the back of his hand to his forehead, his mouth half-open to take slow breaths._  
_All Elizabeth could muster was a soft and afraid, "'Elizabeth'?"  
"...Why don't we go back to the manor?" Madame Red suggested in a croaked voice as if the word 'manor' was a curse, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She reached out to take Ciel's hand, but he pulled it away, hesitating a moment before curling his fingers together in front of him and walking back to the carriage with his head down, his hair shielding his face from the public. Madame Red took Elizabeth's hand instead, and throughout the walk balk to the carriage, Ciel stayed two feet in front of them and didn't say a word. His head was down still, his eyes covered.  
Madame Red and Elizabeth's hands shook in unison.

**...**

***Grabs for-sale box of tissues***

**nnnnnnnnnGAWD!**

**You guys better 'preciate. That almost dried out my tear ducts.**

**Ducks?**

**CHOLESTEROL!?**

**Gawd that's a lot of calcium.**

**...What is that?**

**~Mitsuki**


End file.
